Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A Cheesy Feta & Spinach Pie

Feta cheese and spinach are a match made in heaven. I'm yet to get tired of this combination, and I hope that neither have you, as I've got two feta & spinach pie recipes in store for you (that's in addition to my Spanakopita á la Pille that I wrote about almost two years ago). They're all very different, so I hope you won't be too bored, and will stick around :)

The first recipe is for a cheesy (no, not in that sense!) tart, adapted from a Finnish Apu-magazine, where a recipe for juustoinen pinaattipiiras was published on 20 July 2001. It's rather rich and cheese-laden, so not a pie for those trying to lose a dress size. I found that this tasted even better on the following day, so I've added it to my savoury pies and tarts folder with a note 'best made day before' - quite useful for picnics, that is...

First prepare the pastry: mix flour, butter and cheese with a knife until crumbly, then add the water and bring the pastry together. Press into a pie dish and put into a fridge for about 30 minutes to rest.Meanwhile, blanch the spinach leaves in boiling water, then quickly cool under a running cold water, drain and squeeze dry. Cut coarsely, then mix with the other filling ingredients.Blind-bake (see photo here) for 10 minutes in 200 C, until the crust is slightly golden.Pour the filling into the pre-baked cheesy pastry shell and bake for another 20-25 minutes in the middle of the oven, until the filling is set and the top of the pie is lovely golden shade.Cool a little, then serve with a green salad.

Oh I LOVE the spinach & feta combination. I have used it on pizzas, on fish fillets, to stuff chicken breasts... and in quiches (usually with some bacon in there too ;-)) I do like the idea of cheese in the crust - will have to try that next time.